summer

This recipe takes advantage of summers bounty and is an easy and nutritious one pot meal. I actually made this the night I went into labor with our little girl and it was perfectly filling to help sustain me through labor. Serve up with a green salad and some crusty bread.Serves 4

On Friday night Neil and I went for our traditional post midwife date night dinner. This week we decided to dine at Kismet Kitchens in Montpelier, a restaurant we used to love to visit for brunch back when we lived in Montpelier. We had an amazing dinner of Veg Carpacio and Vegan Tempeh Club Burgers and Neil tried their Garden Martini (fresh squeezed vegetable juice and gin with a salt and pepper rim).

Well we absolutely loved our meals and Neil loved his drink so much so that we decided recreate our meal at home for Saturday night dinner. Since any good date night in starts with a cocktail we decided to make our own version of the Garden Martini.

Makes 2 Cocktails

Juice Mix:

1 bunch parsley

2-3 large tomatoes

3 celery stalks

4 kale stalks (stems and leaves)

1/4 jalapeno

Juice everything above in your juicer and then comes cocktail time!

2 1/2 oz vodka or gin

1/2 oz dry vermouth

wedges of lemon

salt and pepper for the rim of the glass

celery sticks and jalapeno slices, for garnish

Alcoholic Version: Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add about 1 cup of the veggie juice, the vodka or gin, vermouth and a squeeze of lemon. Shake and then using the strainer pour into a salt and pepper rimmed, ice filled glass and garnish with celery sticks, jalapeno slices and a wedge of lemon.

Non-alcoholic Version: If you don’t drink alcohol or are pregnant like me you would fill a shaker with ice add 1 and 1/2 cups of the veggie juice a squeeze of lemon and shake. Then pour into a salt and pepper rimmed glass that is filled with ice and garnish with a celery stick, wedge of lemon and slice of jalapeno.

This upcoming weekend is a big weekend for Memorial Day BBQ’s and Parties so I have rounded up a few of my favorite recipes that would work really well for this weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend? Neil is running the two person relay of the Vermont City Marathon and then we are going to spend Monday celebrating our anniversary (a few days early) with massages at The Essex.

I don’t know about you but when the weather gets hot I just want a nice refreshing drink, specifically a lemon or limeade. Today it was a high of 85F and my craving for lemonade was sky high. Luckily last night I picked up a bunch of lemons in anticipation for the hot weather and made myself a pitcher of lemonade, but not just any lemonade Maple Lemonade!

The inspiration behind this lemonade is a little spot that Neil and I used to go to when we lived in Montpelier called Langdon Street (unfortunately it is closed now) where we would get Maple Lemonade. Since I have never found it out anywhere else I decided that I would just have to make our own.

Maple Lemonade

1 1/3 cups fresh squeezed Lemon Juice, strained

1/2 cup Grade B Maple Syrup

4 cups Water

Ice for serving

Combine the lemon juice and maple syrup in a pitcher and whisk to combine. Add the water and stir again. Fill a class with ice and pour the lemonade over. Enjoy!

Over a twitter discussion over my absolute favorite tea- Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulce I came into contact with Mighty Leaf about doing a review of their new iced teas. They sent me their four new iced tea flavors to try and let me tell you they don’t disappoint. These teas are just like Mighty Leaf’s small tea bags in giant form; so not only do they make delicious tea but what isn’t fun about a giant tea bag?

o Organic Black Iced Tea: A flavorful black iced tea made of refreshingly rich and smooth South Indian organic black tea leaves hand-picked on the dewy slopes of the Nilgiri Mountains.

o Sunburst Green Iced Tea: A cool and vibrant iced green tea that delivers mountain-grown Chinese green tea leaves brightened with the crisp taste of ripe oranges and sweet citrus. The lowest in caffeine among all four flavors.

Iced tea is my favorite summer beverage however I don’t often make it at home because unless I have loose tea it is no fun to try to make tea from a handful of tiny tea bags. Well Mighty Leaf makes things so much easier by having their giant iced tea bags. All you have to do is steep the tea bag and then add ice. It’s never been easier to make iced tea at home.

I really enjoyed all of these flavors and once we started making them we haven’t been able to stop. My favorite is the Sunburst Green Iced Tea because it is fresh and crisp and perfect on a hot day. Neil’s favorite is the Organic Black Iced Tea it is wonderfully dark and refreshing.

Summer might be coming to an end but it’s never too late to enjoy a nice cold crisp glass of iced tea.

*CLOSED* GIVEAWAYS: Mighty Leaf is offering a giveaway of their Summer Brewing Kit. One person can receive a box of each of their new teas, as well as the Bodum Iced Tea Pitcher which makes fresh iced tea in minutes. The kit’s total value is approximately $60. US Residents only. Giveaway open until August 25th at 4pm EST

In just a couple of weeks we will be welcoming summer. It is a short-lived season in Toronto, so I do all that I can to savour every second. Over the next three months, I have local farmers markets to visit, picnics to plan, and patios to patron.

With the change of seasons most people find their appetites turn away from the hearty, warming meals of winter to lighter, fresher fare. I consume a high-raw, vegan diet throughout the year but the bounty of local produce during the summer makes eating raw easy and incredibly delicious. Nothing saves a sweltering afternoon like a big juicy slice of watermelon. Salads, smoothies, and fruit slushies, sure say summer to me.

When the sun is shining I want nothing more than to be outdoors. Eating raw foods, means there is no need to heat up your house by turning on the oven. Putting together a salad, or blending up a smoothie takes a couple of minutes, leaving you more time to spend strolling through the city. Plus, raw foods are easier for our bodies to digest and provide plenty of energy to fuel a fantastic summer full of dancing at outdoor festivals, bike riding by the water and swimming at sunset.

Here’s a great recipe for an energy-packed snack bar to keep you full and satisfied as you tackle your 2011 Summer to-do list.

Sweet Lemon Fig Poppyseed Bars

1 cup of rolled oats (the old fashioned not the instant kind)*

1/2 cup raw cashews

pinch of sea salt

1 cup Medjool dates, pitted (approximately 10)

2 TBSP lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

3 dried Turkish figs

1 TBSP poppyseeds

In a food processor, pulse the oats, cashews and salt until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well combined. Press into a parchment-lined 8X8 pan. Cut into 12 bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Thank you to Lindsay for inviting me to share a recipe with all of you. I hope your summers are full of fun and fantastic food. Well, if you’re a regular reader of Lindsay’s blog I have not doubt you’re already eating very well! If you’d like more raw food inspiration I’d love for you to stop by my blog veganculinarycrusade.com.

xo VeganLisa

*It can be hard to find raw rolled oats. They are usually steamed during processing. If you’d prefer to consume only raw ingredients replace the oats with 3/4 cup of almonds.

This weekend was a fairly lively one that started out with a nice early morning run on Saturday- indoors due to the pouring rain and then a trip to the market. The farmers market has been disappointing due to the lack of veggies (we live in the North so it’s not really prime veggie growing season) but I did leave with a bunch of beautiful leeks, broccoli rabe, Russian kale, cilantro, parsley, dill, fingerling potatoes, parsnips, chives and green onions. After our trip to the market we headed to Healthy Living to pick up the remainder of our groceries and I snagged this as a new exciting dinner treat:(Source)

Following our shopping adventures we came home to the refrigerator repair guy outside our door- apparently he figured out the problem and wanted to rush right over (no calling first). So he fixed the refrigerator and now my fridge is no longer freezing all my produce! Finally he left and Neil and I could eat lunch and get ready for my cousins wedding.

We attended the wedding and watch a lovely small outdoor ceremony and then headed into the tent (next door) to enjoy the reception. It was nice to be able to share a special day with my cousin and her new husband as well as other friends and family.

We spent three hours at the wedding and then decided that it was time to make the hour drive back home and get ourselves some dinner since there was nothing vegan at the country BBQ wedding. We came home to a fancy dinner of toast and coconut milk yogurt.

Sunday we spent the morning lounging around the house until Neil and I decided that it was time to do something productive. I got to work on our disorganized closets and moved in the summer close and moved out the winter. While I cleaned the house the Hubz went shopping for more plants and headed to the garden to weed and plant- what a great guy eh’? Since he was out doing all of the manual labor I decided to cook him a yummy dinner with a few ingredients from our little balcony garden (see below).
For dinner I used most of the mustard greens and some cilantro to make these yummy Cauliflower-Mustard Green Spring Rolls (this week’s recipe of the week)

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